Letter-envelop



A. O. RICHARD. LBTTBR-BNVELOP.

No. 26,127. V Patented Nov. 15, 1859.

21/171: esses'.

2mg, 5% JXW .Ma

UNITE sTA'rns PAENT oFFIoE.

ALBERT C. RICHARD, OF NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT.

LETTER-ENVELOP.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 26,127, dated November 15, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT C. RICHARD, of Newtown, in the county of Fairfield, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Letter-Envelop; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in constructing a letter envelop in such a manner that the official stamp of the postoffice which is usually affixed to every letter before being conveyed through the mails, shall, by one and the same operation of stamping, be likewise impressed on the letter which may be inclosed in my envelop, in an indelible manner.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I make my envelop in the usual well 'known manner by cutting the same out of paper or other thin flexible material as represented by Fig. 1 in the accompanying drawing; the piece 'cut in the form as shown, or in any other suitable shape, is folded over on the four lines indicated by dots, and marked (1) (2) (3) and (4) but before folding the blank Fig. 1, I apply to a space within the dotted lines (1), (2), (3) and 4 a thin coating of any unctuous color, ink or paint that has the property of parting readily from the envelop by the pressure applied to the outside of the same, by the force of the blow given in the usual operation of afiixing the official date mark in the postoflice. This property of the ink or paint thus causes the production of a facsimile of the official date mark, 011 the letter which is inclosed in my improved envelop. WVhen the color or ink is thus applied, as indicated by shaded lines (5) Fig. 1, I proceed to foldover the flaps (6), (7) and (8), pasting the same together in the usual well known manner, and thus inclosing the space (5) within the now formed envelop. I can attain the object of my invention likewise by covering a piece of thin paper or other material with the ink color or paint and then placing the same loose within the envelop, or by fastening a piece of paper thus prepared to the inside of the envelop by pasting or otherwise; but I prefer the mode of construction as described, and illustrated.

The person using my envelop aflixes the franking stamp (9), usually called postage stamp, on the outside of the envelop, just over the space covered on the inside with the transfer color or ink indicated by dotted lines Fig. 2, where my envelop is represented ready for operation and in reversed position from Fig. 1. The postoffice ofiicial in order to date the letter, and at the same time to deface the franking stamp (9) will give a blow with the usual stamping apparatus on the face of the postage stamp, thereby printing the date and postoffice name on the envelop, and by the pressure caused by the blow thus applied, the ink or color immediately under the letters or marks made by the stamping apparatus will be transferred on to the letter or paper inclosed inside of the envelop, thus producing a counterpart of the impression officially affixed to the envelop outside.

The objection urged against the common envelops, is: that they prevent the letter contained therein, from receiving the official impression of the postoflice showing the place and date of mailing; my envelop fully meets this objection; and any letter mailed in my improved envelop can be used as legal evidence as to its own date and office of departure, as well and fully as if the same had been folded in the well known time-honored manner, without the use of the modern envelop.

I claim as a new article of manufacture- A letter envelop having the properties fully set forth herein for the purpose as described.

ALBERT C. RICHARD. Witnesses:

DAVID SANFORD, THOMAS ALLDIS. 

